Pull-on articles are known, for example, from JP 2001-522703 W, to have a waist opening and a pair of leg openings wherein front and rear waist regions of an absorbent chassis are weld-bonded thereby to obtain a three-dimensional article, i.e., a pull-on article or a pant type article. According to most of known pull-on articles, including the pull-on article disclosed in JP 2001-522703 W, an outer cover comprises a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region between the front and rear waist regions. Opposite side edges of the front waist region are weld-boned with opposite side edges of the rear waist region. The waist-opening and the leg-openings are respectively provided with strand-like elastic members made from rubber material so that edges defining these openings may be put in close contact with the wearer's body. These elastic members have ends overlapping the welded seams and weld-bonded concurrently with the outer cover to prevent the elastic members from falling out.
After the article has been used, the welded seams may be burst to pull the front and rear waist regions apart from each other and the article may be taken off from the wearer in order to prevent body waste from clinging to the wearer's legs or the other regions. To burst the welded seams, the wearer or a helper may hold the front and rear waist regions with the wearer's or the helper's both hands and pull them outward in opposite directions. The respective welded seams are burst in a vicinity of the waist-opening as the front and rear waist regions are pulled apart. However, in vicinities of the leg-openings remote from the waist opening held by the wearer's or the helper's both hands, the welded seams are not well burst. Rather, the outer cover forming the front and rear waist regions is irregularly ruptured inside the welded seams as viewed in a transverse direction. Such rupture may prevent the welded seams from smoothly bursting.
Additionally, even after the outer cover has been ruptured, leg and waist elastic members, particularly the latter, remain firmly weld-bonded to the respective welded seams and do not readily fall out from the associated welded seams. However, if the side edges of the front and rear waist regions are further pulled apart in opposite directions, the leg elastic members will be further extended between the ruptured outer cover and the associated welded seams until the leg elastic members fallout from the associated welded seams. Thereupon the wearer's or the helper's both hands may be uncomfortably whipped with the leg elastic members which snap-back.
The inventors have contemplated several reasons why the known articles have the problems described above. A partial reason is that the known article has a great difference in elongation-at-break (%) between the outer cover and the leg and waist elastic members. Specifically, an elongation-at-break of the outer cover is about 40-60%, whereas an elongation-at-break of the leg and waist elastic members is at least 400% because the strand-elastic members are formed of rubber material having relatively great elongation-at-break. Another partial reason is that if the waist-opening is held and forcibly pulled apart in opposite directions, the pulling speed is gradually accelerated toward the leg-openings which are remote from the waist-opening. Such tensile force exerted at a high velocity seems to get involved in ruptures of the outer cover rather than in bursting of the welded seams.
It is one object of one or more embodiments of the present invention to provide a pull-on article that the wearer's and the helper's hands are not uncomfortably whipped with leg and waist elastic members when welded seams of side edges of front and rear waist regions are burst during taking off the article.
It is another object of one or more embodiments of the present invention is to provide a pull-on article which does not create a feeling of discomfort pressure against the wearer's thighs and waist region and provide a good sealing about the wearer's thighs and waist region thereby to effectively prevent body waste discharged from the wearer leaking outward from leg and waist opening edges.
It is a further object of one or more embodiments of the present invention is to provide a pull-on article which provides leg and waist elastic members for effectively sealing over relatively wide regions about the wearer's thighs and waist region.
It is an additional object of one or more embodiments of the present invention to provide a pull-on article in which leg and waist elastic members are rupturable in vicinities of welded seams where the elastic members are attached to the first and second waist regions, when welded seams of side edges of first and second waist regions are burst and thereby the side edges of the first and second waist regions are smoothly separated from each other in opposite directions.